Trump’s National Park Service is quietly whitewashing Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad (UPDATED)

The National Park Service edited its website to replace key facts about Harriet Tubman and slavery with phrases like “Black/White cooperation.”

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center near Church Creek in Dorchester County, Maryland. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

UPDATE — April 7, 10:23 pm: The National Park Service has reversed the changes to its website about the Underground Railroad following public outcry.

The original story is below.

The National Park Service quietly edited its website about the Underground Railroad to remove key references and quotes from famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman and soften its language about slavery.

First reported by The Washington Post, visitors no longer see the large photograph of Tubman nor a quote attributed to her, where she describes herself as the “conductor” of the extensive network of routes and figures who helped enslaved persons escape to the North. Now, the webpage titled “What is the Underground Railroad” shows Postal Service stamps of abolitionist figures that emphasize “Black/White cooperation.”

“The Underground Railroad — the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War — refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage,” the page once read. “Wherever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape.” It has been replaced with lines that describe the Underground Railroad as “one of the most significant expressions of the American civil rights movement,” and “bridged the divides of race,” and more.

The edit also removed a reference to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required the return of enslaved persons who had escaped to their so-called owners.

Readers can see these changes via the Wayback Machine, an online service that archives past versions of websites.

The original website is on the left. The new changes are on the right. Credit: Wayback Machine.

The Washington Post also discovered several edits across other pages that “softened descriptions of some of the most shameful moments of the nation’s past” by changing text from “enslaved African Americans” to “enslaved workers,” removing a page about “the life of Benjamin Franklin and his relationship with slavery,” and eliminating the phrases “systemic racism and historical bias” from a section about Black soldiers who fought during the American Revolution.

Several references to the Declaration of Independence singer Thomas Stone as a slaveowner were removed from multiple pages on the Stone National Historic site, the outlet reported.

Fergus Bordewich, author of the 2005 book “Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America,” slammed the changes as “both offensive and absurd,” telling CNN the website has been “diminished in value by its brevity.”

A spokesperson for the Park Service gave this statement to the Washington Post: “The National Park Service has been entrusted with preserving local history, celebrating local heritage, safeguarding special places and sharing stories of American experiences. We take this role seriously and can point to many examples of how we tell nuanced and difficult stories about American history.”

This report comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that "improper, divisive or anti-American ideology" must be removed from the Smithsonian Institution. He notably singled out the National Museum of African American History and Culture, prompting concerns from visitors and supporters about the potential changes to come.

A few weeks ago, Jackie Robinson’s military history was removed from a Department of Defense website to comply with the Trump administration’s mandate to eliminate anything it deems “diversity, equity and inclusion” from the U.S. government. His page, along with a course about the Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots, was restored after public outcry.